Callisto, I also have a Fuji 5100. I've had it for about four years, and it has survived very well in this humid environment. I love it. I agree with everything GB says except the battery issue. Like Callisto, I support using regular batteries. DH has a Pentax that takes a special battery and we can never find it here...I've had friends come to visit and leave their camera's battery charger at home (duh) and they can't find the one they need here. SO, if you travel, or even if you don't, opt for the convenience of regular AA batteries. Get a cheap battery charger and rechargeable batteries. SO much less hassle. Have fun - you are going to love having a digital camera!

Callisto, I also have a Fuji 5100. I've had it for about four years, and it has survived very well in this humid environment. I love it. I agree with everything GB says except the battery issue. Like Callisto, I support using regular batteries. DH has a Pentax that takes a special battery and we can never find it here...I've had friends come to visit and leave their camera's battery charger at home (duh) and they can't find the one they need here. SO, if you travel, or even if you don't, opt for the convenience of regular AA batteries. Get a cheap battery charger and rechargeable batteries. SO much less hassle. Have fun - you are going to love having a digital camera!

Karen ~ that's exactly the problem I've seen. You go on a trip, even locally and the one thing you forget is the camera charger, or you have to take so many pictures your battery runs out and you're stranded if you aren't right next to the extra. If your camera uses AA's or AAA's if you forget your charger you aren't stranded or looking for a specialty store you can dash into the closest store a grab enough to get you by.

For years pictures were my passion but I live in a land where there's nothing to take pictures of so my camera expertise has diminished but I do know I would always buy Fuji given the option.

I bought mine online from the Sam's Club Auction Site. I was able to bid on it and get it for about 1/2 price. You have to hav a Sam's card to bid though. They have quite a few differnet cameras there. Once you ecide what it is that you want, you may want to check there to see if it's on the auction.

I have a Canon Power Shot A470 and I love it. Paid just a little over $100 and it's great. I think they just phased out the A470 but I'm sure the next is just as good. If I don't use the video, the batteries last quite a while. You must however, buy a larger memory stick. Again, videos take up a lot of that storage as well.

Andy M. is so right about shopping on line. I bought my Fuji for about half what I might have paid if I hadn't shopped around. I use bizrate.com for shopping and price comparisons. There are lots of other sites as well. Decide what you want, do some consumer comparisons...there are even sites to help you choose a digital camera. Just google it, i.e., "how to choose a digital camera." Good luck!

I liked my Kodak, but I really love my Olympus Stylus 780. It is all-weather, has optical zoom, and is easy to use. It is small enough to fit in my pocket, but it has a large enough display to see it easily. It even has a special setting just for food! I have used it for great vacation shots, people, animals, food, and ebay. I got a couple extra rechargable batteries so that I always have a fresh one while one is recharging, and I got a couple memory cards (a must, as the camera will only hold about 9 pictures without it). I got the batteries and memory cards for a good price on ebay.

I have a Canon SD750. It's small, has decent zoom (3x optical), is easy to operate, takes good quality video and snapshots. I'm very happy with it. I especially like the compact size, which makes it very convenient to take with me everywhere. I used to have a larger SLR, but it was a bit of a pain to take with me unless I was on a 'photography mission'.

^^^ Exactly. Unless I'm on a photography mission I hate lugging around a large camera like I used to do with multiple lenses.
I'm active outdoors and I love taking pictures so I like to be able to stash my camera in my jersey pocket.